Face-off 2016 Final Théoden's Host Vs Rivendell

And finally the Face-off 2016 Final! The elves defeated the Serpent Horde from a heroic duel between the elven captain and Suladan, after a very close encounter with the Mordorians which also resulted in a heroic duel that the captain got the better of the orc from. The Rohirrim, meanwhile took a close, but deserved, victory over Moria in the first round from Erkenbrand's special rules, then a well fought victory over the Fiefdoms.

Rivendell Vs Théoden's Host (Domination)
Whoever claims more of the five objectives after one side is broken and a 1 or 2 is rolled on D6 (in end phase). Objectives are claimed by having more models within 3''/8cm when the game ends.


Setup

The elves fan out, and the Rohirrim concentrate on their left flank.

One of the elves gets caught in the bush and his brains are dashed
across the floor! The elves advance un-phased.

The Rohirrim stand off their adversaries, who simple charge them. 

Then both captain call a counter charge...

There is tremendous crash of steel as the sides clash, the elven captain
slices through two royal guards, who were looking at Erkenbrand stab
an elf in the face. Also another Rohan warrior falls to an elf spear.

Erkenbrand calls another charge allowing them to surround the elves,
and an elf is speared from three foot away.

Initially the elf captain took a deep leg cut from a throwing spear and
as he bent over to grab it Erkenbrand clove him in twain.
Another Rohan warrior gets speared too. 

Things are looking bleak for the elves, who have been broken,
but they stand fast hoping the battle will turn in their favour.

And so two more elves fall beneath either spear or sword of the Rohirrim.

Erkenbrand orders his guard to claim the remaining objectives.

While he fights fiercely with an elf, but knocks aside his shield
and drives his sword into the elven warriors gut.

The last elf stands, and fights a royal guard, although
neither has the better of the other.



Erkenbrand hastens to remove the faithful elf.



But his guard manages without...

And so the Rohirrim remove all the pesky elves from the field, and claim total victory!!

Théoden's Host = 10 + 5(breaking elves) + 3(killing elven captain) + 5(number of objectives claimed) = 23 
Rivendell = 4

This victory was far too easy for the Rohirrim. Their throwing spears really gave them the edge, allowing them to effectively roll-to-wound on a 4+, not only that but the initially killed elf really meant that the elves had to charge into the Rohan line in order to win the well or the number of objectives would be against them once either side was broken.

Overall Hero Kills
Erkenbrand = 12 (16)
Elven captain = 9 (15) or 19 (27) inc. play-offs
Suladan = 9 (11)
Duinhur = 8 (8)
Shagrat = 3 (3)
Goblin captain = 3 (3)
Goblin Shaman = 2 (2)

There are some clear candidates for the person of the tournament, Sadly Suladan won't be taking it this time, as despite the number of kills he was too easily neutralised by other forces in the last two scenarios. Erkenbrand fought well in his three scenarios, getting a reasonable amount of kills, however a decent portion of his sides kills were from his bodyguard. The elf captain, however, has played a key role in the elven successes, destroying the dwarves in the play-offs, killing Shagrat and Suladan in the first round and the semis with many other kills along the way, although the final was  a poor showing from the elven force, he still earns himself the Elf of the Tournament award for carrying his warband to the final battle.

So this concludes the Face-off 2016, albeit 5 months later than intended. I have done some other things over the Easter break, and they will be put up in due course :)

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2016 1st Round Isengard Raiders Vs The Fiefdoms

The Fiefdoms return to the Face-offs again and confront their last enemies, the Isengard raiders, in hope that it will go like it did last time. Lurtz has the same bodyguard, the only difference is that they must take the prize before the Gondorians do.

Neither side has a wounding, move rate, numerical or fight value advantage, so really it's battle of model placement, movement and lucky dice rolls.

Isengard Raiders Vs The Fiefdoms (Seize the prize)

Both sides start off quickly, yet Duinhur gets the first kill,
shooting an uruk in the throat.

More movement towards the site, the uruks keep on firing arrows too.

The Gondorians then charge into the main uruk line, while some 
of each force detach to close in on the artifact.

One uruk gets the worst of the first melee.

The uruks reach the artifact first and block off the nearby Gondorians.
The main forces engage again.

And four more uruks fall to Gondorian steel, one by Duinhur, which
breaks the uruk forces, the only bad thing is that 
an uruk has dug up the artifact.

This uruk hastens to the board edge, while things go more awry
in the center, as Lurtz and co. are surrounded.

Another two uruks are cloven in two by a clansmen, 
and Lurtz gets the worst of the fighting.

The men corner the uruk...

Lurtz is brought to his knees, and killed along with one of his warriors. 
The Uruks have been humbled and the battle is basically over.

The Swan Knight surround the uruk allowing Duinhur
 to fight the pesky thing hand-to-hand.

And from here the uruks were charged until they fled, leaving the Gondorians with the artifact, and the victory!

Fiefdoms = 10 + 5(breaking Uruks) + 3(killing Lurtz) = 18
Isengard Raiders = 4

So the uruks have been utterly defeated, just as they were last time, they didn't get a single kill.

Duinhur got lucky with his first shot, then poor movement from Lurtz and his main group of warriors meant that two of the uruks and Lurtz were not even involved in the fighting for two turns, so a couple got killed, which left the fight very one-sided from that point onward.

The only bit of luck was the uruk digging up the artifact within one turn, however didn't have enough support to prevent the Gondorians surrounding him.

Hero Kills
Duinhur = 2 (2)

This means the Gondorians continue their winning run progressing to the semis, and will face the victor of the next battle: Théoden's Host Vs Moria.

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2016 teams and analysis

Face-off time!

This time there is an extra team and three more battles than normal. Moria have re-entered along with the Fiefdoms, while the last winners (Tower of Ecthelion) are absent.

The force composition rules are similar to last time:

• Must include one hero
• Must be no more than 150pts
• The force must not include more than 15 models, that are non-heroes (such that each side represents a warband not an army)

Here are the teams:

Cirth Ungol

The same force as last time around. The banner will hopefully be used to win more of the combats, meanwhile Shagrat is a solid hero that should be able to fight against most of the enemy heroes.



The Serpent horde

Again this force is the same as last time around, Suladan leads half a dozen infantry from horseback. The Serpent lord will provide the main threat and killing power while his guards go off and secure objectives.

Erebor

The dwarf captain with shield leads the side again, however the number of dwarf warriors has been changed to 9, three of them have shields. The main aim here is to use the two-handed axes to be able to kill better armoured enemy warriors.

Théoden's host

Erkenbrand gets another go at leading the Rohan forces, last time they left despite clearing the field of Haradrim. They must have done something right so the same force will be used here again. His supporting cast are 4 royal guard and 5 warriors with throwing weapons.

 

The Fiefdoms

After the debut success of this force, there are no changes. Duinhur is in command, and is supported by 6 knights of Dol Amroth and 4 clansmen of Lamedon.

Isengard raiders

Lurtz is the leader of the pack here, providing a stalwart melee and ranged capabilities, while the ten warriors have higher strength values that will be utilised to break down higher defence enemies.



The Easterlings

These Easterlings actually managed to get into the final battle last time around, so this force remains unchanged. They'll utilise the high defence warriors to phalanx their way to an ambitious third place.

Moria

The goblins have gone for a different approach, the captain and his 13 warriors will be attacking everything. Failing this the shaman will add some of his furious magic to help them along the way. This force could either flabbergast or flop in my opinion.

Rivendell

The heavily armoured elven captain leads the 7 heavily armoured elf warriors, 5 of whom have shields. This forces has the advantage for very long battles where courage values become important.

More of the same as last time apparently is the theme. Each force seems to be very well rounded, and no clear side stands out as being a favourite. Although the fiefdoms and the Serpent horde may edge the odds in both of their favours.

As mentioned previously the scenarios used for each of the first three battles are:

Rivendell Vs Moria (Reconnoitre)

Erebor Vs Rivendell (A Clash of Piquets)

Moria Vs Erebor (The High Ground)

And these three shall become two that'll go into the knockout stages.

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2014 3rd place The Serpent Horde Vs Isengard Raiders

So, the battle for pride.
The Isengard raiders have the numerical and ranged advantages. Having four more warriors, and the warrior quality means they can wound on 4's not 5's like the serpent guard. However Lurtz is no equal to Suladan, although needing 4's to wound has 1 less attack and no mount, furthermore two less will and three less courage, which could be decisive as the sides will be battling until 25% strength.

If the uruk archers get early kills, then the melee will be easier to deal with, splitting up means the Suladan can overwhelm and conquer, but could bring him down early which pretty much ensures an Isengard victory. The Haradrim need to break the uruk-hai so their courage advantage can turn into a numerical advantage.

The Serpent Horde Vs Isengard Raiders (Meeting Engagement)



Lurtz orders the uruk-hai divide up, cocks his bow sending an arrow
towards Suladan, but it clinks off his armour.



Both divisions prepare to receive Suladan.

He leads a couple away from the hazardous arrows
as the others vault the wall.

One of the guards doesn't run fast enough
and is caught by one of the arrows.

Lurtz and co. smash into the three stray serpent guard.

But the main melee is over here.

The amount of enemies doesn't concern Suladan as he cuts through four
of them, Lurtz smash through a guard and one more fall on either side.

Suladan rides into the trapped warriors.

The uruks here attack and surround.

Lurtz is stabbed in the side bringing a wince out of him, Suladan cuts
through one, while the other rolls away, his guard kills another uruk.

Lurtz senses the tension amongst his remaining warriors
but cannot rally them as they are pounced upon.

Both leaders finish off their opponents, as one
more of their own are killed elsewhere.

Reducing the uruk-hai below 25% and giving the victory to the Haradrim!

Serpent Horde = 15
Isengard Raiders = 9

Suladan = 14 (14)
Lurtz = 6 (8)

Quite a close encounter considering the forces, Suladan was the deciding factor, his early four kills destroyed the chances of him being brought down at all and being split up meant that he controlled the fights in the main part of the battle. This followed from a poor move at the beginning, to engage the straggling serpent guard, gave Suladan the opportunity he needed.

So next up is the final where the Gondorians face the Easterlings in Ill met by moonlight to decide who wins the face-off.

Until then

Fish

Face-off 2014 semi-finals Isengard Raiders Vs Tower of Ecthelion

At a glance, this is essentially a siege. The knights must simply breach the uruk line and break them in a couple of turns, or they will be ground down by the defence bonuses and lack of numbers, but they have wounding advantages if they charge. The uruks have shields and a higher fight value, but the Knights have better courage and move rate (may be an advantage?).
However it's a 50/50 between Lurtz and the captain as either could reduce the other in a turn, through either a better fight value or ease of wounding.

Isengard Raiders Vs Tower of Ecthelion (Storm The Camp)

The knights file out in two groups.

Arrows fly across the field and thunk into a horse,
leaving a surprised knight in the gravel.

The captain orders the charge
while the archers take up shooting positions

Lurtz pushes through the first knight, who is killed by an uruk,
punching into the next nearest enemies, leaving them
both screaming on the floor.

The Knights move in swiftly hoping to take advantage,
Lurtz raises an eyebrow in reverence



This expression coats his face as a lance tears through his body. The
Captain bolts past the uruk shields, stabbing and cutting three uruk-hai.



The knights are not given any room to breath,
as the angry uruks attack in a vengeance.

One knight lunges over the uruk shield spearing it in the face.
While the captain is cornered and brought down unable
to fend off the weird shaped swords.

The uruks couldn't stand the wrath of the knights and flee
 and only one man remains

Giving the Gondorians the victory!

That was all to tight for the Gondorians. It all boiled down to good fight rolls and a series of unlucky courage rolls for the Uruk-hai. Still the charge was stopped, but the damage left them too close to breaking, with one good roll pushing them over and their courage weakness exposed.

Tower of Ecthelion = 18
Isengard Raiders = 12

Gondor Captain = 5 (5)
Lurtz = 4 (6)

Lurtz performed well, until neglecting to use a heroic move which could have prevented the Gondorians main charge and thus the loss...

The Knights move to the Final! Where the face either winner between The Serpent Horde or The Easterlings and the Isengard raiders face the loser in the third place battle.

Until then

Fish